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Things to Do in Chalfont St. Giles, Buckinghamshire - Chalfont St. Giles Attractions

"Really good historical museum with so much to explore with little ones. .We were there to watch our son in a 10k run last Sunday.Our Grandchildren loved the open spaces to run around. They loved meeting the horses,sheep cows and chickens in the Victorian Farmyard . They were fascinated by the Forge ..."and played with the toys in Thame cottage.Stories were told in the circle of benches letting their imagination run wild and they sat in the chapel pretending to be Vicar.
Well done to the volunteers who were friendly and helpful..............We will return.
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"Chiltern Open Air Museum has been a family favourite for a number of years. The museum principally conserves agricultural and rural buildings from the Buckinghamshire area by dismantling them at their original site and reconstructing at the museum. There are also WWII prefabs as well as a fantastic ..."iron age roundhouse. The site is well spaced out with woodland walks and a recently refurbished play area. We are particular fans of their Halloween events, but this bank holiday weekend visited to see gladiatorial re-enactments - great fun !
Catering is quite limited. There is a tearoom through the toll gate at one end of the site but this fills up very quickly. Sandwiches can be purchased at the central green, but there is no seating. Not a problem in summer but not so good towards the end of the season. For special events such as this weekend, there was extra catering with high quality farm produced hamburgers and hotdogs. My advise if the weather is good is take a picnic.
Entrance fee...
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"We visited on the opening weekend of the 2015 season when admission was by donation, received a warm welcome from the museum volunteers, and had an all-round enjoyable visit.
The museum is divided into four broad areas, although there are also plenty of outlying buildings. These are the village g..."reen, the Chiltern farmstead, the Wood End 'industrial' area featuring rural crafts like woodturning and candle-making, and the woodland walks (including the Iron Age hut). I felt this worked well as a way of giving the buildings some context and making the most of the museum landscape.
This wasn't our first visit, although the last one was quite a few years ago. On our return, somehow the most evocative exhibits seemed to be the ones dealing with the period of history that is starting to go out of living memory - the RAF Nissan Hut and the Amersham prefab being prime examples. The Thame Vicarage Rooms are so clearly the predecessor of nearly every church hall we've ever visited. The 'Li...
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"The museum itself is fascinating, an amazing collection of buildings ranging from medieval barns to RAF Nissen huts from the 2nd world war, oddities like small pre-fabricated chapels, shepherds huts and even historic (working) toilets. There is a lot of vintage farming equipment in the buildings if ..."you like old carts, harrows, ploughs and such like, There's also a woodland walk and a collection of farm animals such as sheep and working horses to amuse children; the museum also has craftsmen demonstrating traditional skills on some days, for example a blacksmith was working when we visited. As with all such museums if you're at the older end of the spectrum (which sadly I am) be prepared to be charmed (or horrified) as you see the furniture and kitchen gadgets your parents owned in the 1950s are now in a museum.
An excellent day out marred by one major disappointment - the tea room which promised snacks, light lunches, tea and cakes. It was horrible. The promised "home made soup" w...
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"We have just had a lovely afternoon at the chiltern open air museum! My 5 year old son was in his element running around and looking at all the different buildings and what they have to offer (dressing up, people in costume, activities) The play area was quite small but lots of fun. The Tea room ser..."ves nice light lunches and yummy cake and ice cream
All staff really friendly!!
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"We went with our grandchildren to an event held here. We had previously visited the museum and thought it very good. On this occasion it was to see jousting. The children loved the horses and it was a lovely day. The only problem was their catering. It was the May bank holiday so there were lot..."s of folk there. The volunteers were very nice but well out of their depth. We stood for over an hour with hungry children in an attempt to get food at their cafe. Sandwiches were made when ordered so the queue didn't move. In the end we gave up and the snack bar also had an enormous queue. Lots of folk had taken cool boxes and we would have done so had we known how difficult it was to access food. If they had allowed some outside catering (i.e. burger van etc.) they would still have made money and folk wouldn't have been disgruntled. The management need to look at how they cater events.
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"The cottage contains a wealth of information on John Milton with some surprising turns on his republican political history involving Oliver Cromwell. He only escaped execution due to his blindness and powerful friends after the return of the monarchy.
The guides were very good. Well worth a visit!"

"This is a real treasure. The volunteers are enthusiastic and allow the children to get stuck in with crafts and any event that occurs.
We are members and get alot of value from it.
Great way to encourage your child to learn about history"

"Visited on bank holiday with family, wasn't too sure what to expect and chose to go because there was the added attraction of seeing Roman gladiators which we thought would make it more interesting for the children which was fantastic.
The 'museum' itself is basically a collection of buildings from..." an iron age roundhouse to a 1930's prefab, spread over several acres of countryside. It takes at least a couple of hours to see them all, go inside, look around the farm, play area, and have a cream tea. Guides in some of the buildings are very friendly and knowledgeable but building conservation isn't one of our children's favourite subjects and nothing else that is unique enough to want to visit again ..... except for the gladiators! Saw the first show lunchtime and had to stay for the second performance in the afternoon. Very authentic and realistic, with a great commentary that entertained the adults as well as the children. Each show lasted about a hour which meant that we had time to ...
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"There are days where we are at a crossroads not knowing what to do with ourselves; alas by human nature we always look further afield - I think indicative of international travel. I am the last person to explore my own doorstep...but... I did and to what joy. The Chiltern Open Air Museum is a gem of..." a find more bijou than Chiltern Chalk.
It's an interesting idea of an amalgamation of buildings through out the ages from Iron Age to Anderson Shelters and even an "Austin 10' thrown in for the grandparents. The permanent staff and volunteers work tirelessly to renovate and preserve the transition of our English history - a very British affair that may well be dilapidating unless we do something now.
There is an array of interesting artefacts and a petting farm for the children (all local produce). More's to the point - Mr. Ruskin (my Welsh Terrier) is permitted as-long as he is kept on a lead - quite a rarity in today's puritanical society... What a bonus... Mr. R can't enter nor does ...
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"I visited the Chiltern museum on my way home from Hampshire, and it was well worth a visit. The buildings are very authentic, and you really get the feel of rural life in the Chilterns. The parkland and woods are beautiful, and I particularly liked the traditional farm. Enjoyable and relaxed day ou..."t.
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"We unfortunately were only able to visit for an afternoon with two children 5 & 8 years., really need longer as we did not get to see all they had to offer. There was a Wonderful medieval event taking place which was excelkent . We all enjoyed the afternoon everyone we spoke to was
knowledg..."eable and helpful. We shall visit again with or without the children
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"We spent a lovely day here with friends & all of us enjoyed it. 6 children from 3 to 9 loved all the buildings, activities & meeting the Medieval demonstrators.
Didn't manage to get round all the buildings so we'll be back.
Huge praise for the family guide book. Really interesting facts & things f..."or the children to hunt for to help them learn more. Thank you for a great day out.
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"In the countryside near Chalfont St Giles this museum oozes nostalgia and history. We went on a non event day and wandered through and around the exhibits at our leisure. The theme of the museum is a collection of historically interesting buildings which have been rescued from their original site an..."d restored and furnished as if they were still in use. We particularly liked the setting around some of the buildings showing typical gardens of the time with plants and vegetables growing as if they were planted by past residents.
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"Went today for the first time. Weather was beautiful and the place was great. Armoured knights, sword fights, archery, a good playground for the kids, lots of good exhibits.
Excellent place we loved it.
Will be back."

"Really enjoyed a visit to this extremely Old Meeting Hall. The Hall is open for visitors between 2-5pm in the summer. In the garden is the grave of William Penn, the founder of Pennsilvania, and upstairs a small exhibition about his life. A very interesting visit!"

"Despite living around a 15 minute drive from the museum, I didn't even know it existed until a relative posted an advert about an Enchanted Museum evening. It was to be full of fairytale characters and even a unicorn!
As my youngest daughter had missed a few of her usual activities due to a fami..."ly bereavement, I thought this would be a relaxing way to spend a couple of hours without breaking the bank.
I booked on the morning of the event as it was really dependant on the weather. It only cost around £16 for both of us to go so was well worth it.
We arrived around 6.30pm (it opened at 5.30), got our map, quiz and suchlike then set off on our way! We took a slow walk round, stopping to hear stories, do activities and when we got to the unicorn and dragon my daughter was enthralled, despite being 10!
There was a bit of a wait for food and drink, despite there being several cafes open around the museum. They were also quite pricey so I think next time I would take a picnic ...
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